HUD Policies Keeps Poor in Their Place

A decent place to live. The evacuation of so many poor Americans from the Gulf Coast could be a blessing in disguise.

Hurricane Katrina blew away more than the Gulf Coast of the United States. She also blew away the the federal government's facade of "helping" the poor with policies that clearly keep the poor in their place.

More than a million low-income Americans receive housing subsidies from HUD's Section 8 program. To be eligible for Section 8 subsidies, a family must earn 50% less than other families in their town or county. Local public housing agencies must give 75% of their available assistance to families earning 70% less than others in their communities.

The high demand and limited supply of housing in poor, urban areas means long waiting periods for assistance. Many families are left hanging, on long, waiting lists for both Section 8 assistance and/or public housing. When our current, federal policy forces citizens to wait for a roof over their head, while teasing them with the promise of one, who would think relocation to a better place was a real option for their family?

People can not make rational decisions about finding a better region to live in, when the government addicts them to handouts that they will lose if they move. In this land of opportunity, federal government policy forces poor Americans to stay in their place, the ghetto. The loud and clear message is "Don't dare get any big ideas about moving on up".

If you wondered, like I did, why so many of those evacuated had never been outside the city limits of New Orleans, Katrina exposed the reasons. Katrina's silver lining was in showing us that our old federal housing policies trap the poor and the disadvantaged among us. Now that government officials acknowledge our policies sealed the fate of poor Americans, we should all thank Katrina. She cleaned the slate. She scattered the poor to area's that have more opportunity for jobs and permanent housing. Now that the promises and policies that trapped the poor have been washed away, we can start over and never repeat these mistakes again. We will now concentrate on helping the people who have lost everything, establish a better life in a better environment.

Now that Americans, and our representatives in Washington, know what our policies have done to limit the lives for millions of our own people, we will never repeat the same mistakes, right???

Sadly, Wrong.

Right now, FEMA is hard at work constructing trailer compounds the middle of No Where Bayou, USA. When the thousands of trailers are in place, Uncle Sam plans a Texas-sized round up and will herd the poor and homeless back to the Gulf Coast.

For many of these Americans, forced to return to a region that offers little in the way of education or employment, it must be heartbreaking. Heartbreaking to know you've lost everything. Heartbreaking to know that America is a big country that you can't experience. Heartbreaking to realize that your government's plan to help you, is one way ticket to a trailer camp back in New Orleans or Mississippi. Heartbreaking to know it clearly made more economic sense for your family to start over somewhere new.

Maybe, if Washington stopped providing so much "help", our nations poor might find they were in a much better position, and start helping themselves.